


Twenties

by hiriki



Category: K (Anime)
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Cake, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Light Angst, M/M, Sleepovers, Sleepy Cuddles, idk like omg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-10 10:45:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4388798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiriki/pseuds/hiriki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It might or might not be Yata’s birthday, and Fushimi might or might have not stumbled upon all the tiny people he never wanted to stumble upon at once.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Twenties

_Not my problem_ , Saruhiko reflected absent-mindedly in between his thoughts of wanting to take a long nap.

And yet, it was right in front of him.

The girl was alone. She was small and young, or, at least, too small and young to be on her own. A lot of passers-by crowded the large streets, but none of them seemed to acknowledge the presence of the child, not even the mothers that strolled by him with infants clutched against their chests. Wow. Wasn’t motherly instinct supposed to be a thing? Saruhiko’s mom never really had one, sure, but, well, she wasn’t really a reference for moms around the world.

He wanted to go back to his quarters and take a nap, he really did. But of course Enomoto would get sick. Of course no one else would be available to take over his patrols. Of bloody course Awashima would ask him – not ask him, _order_ him – to patrol the area designated to Enomoto. Yes, just send the third-in-command, he’s not doing anything anyway, except for a lot of important paperwork (“You can multi-task! It’s good for your brain”, Reishi suggested happily, as if it wasn’t really his problem, and it really wasn’t, was it).

Of course there was a child with no parents or guardians around, right under his nose.

Well, technically, that wasn’t inside Enomoto’s area, he was still on his way there, and if Andy did his bloody job he would eventually find a child roaming alone on the edge of the area of his patrol ( _not if something bad happens to the kid first_ , suggested the usual negative voice in his head that sounded a lot like Fushimi Niki), or maybe someone would finally notice the little girl and take her to a police station, or maybe the police officers themselves could come out of their damn station for once and do their job-

Saruhiko sighed. He would have to do it, wouldn’t he.

_Of course._

Sometimes he hated his blue uniform a little. 

“Hey.” He approached the kid with the same disgruntled yet professional posture he used to speak with Reishi or Awashima. “Do you have anyone accompanying you?”

The little girl turned to him in a surprised swish of skirts. She analyzed him quietly with her big eyes, and Saruhiko did the same, noticing her bright orange hair and big cheeks. 

She blinked at him, seeming a little confused.

“Alone? No! I’m waiting for my brother.” Her missing front teeth made her words sound a little confusing.

“Ah. And where is he?”

“Buying cake.”

“And he left you here alone.”

“I’m not alone!” She pouted at him. “He’ll be back soon.”

Saruhiko sighed.

“He shouldn’t have left you in the first place. Where did he go?”

“I told you. He went to buy cake.”

Goddamn it.

“…I am aware. Where is he buying the cake?”

 “At a shop? The one that sells cake.” The girl stared at him with a look that suggested she was mildly concerned for his mental well-being. 

Saruhiko wished he could make his sigh last two years in order to reflect his mood.

“Right. I’ll be staying here with you until he comes back.”

“Why?”

“Because.” Another sigh. “You’re a child.”

She shrugged.

“I’m smart. And brother is not that much of a grown-up. Not this one.” She frowned, and was about to add something else, but her eyes grew bigger as she waved to someone Saruhiko couldn’t see and tugged at his sleeve. “There he is!”

Expecting to see another midget running in their direction, Saruhiko turned to look at the direction the girl was pointing at and saw exactly what he expected – a midget with brownish, orange hair very similar to the girl’s, but this time it was a boy. It was hard to tell if he was a slightly tall middle-schooler or a very tiny high-schooler.

The boy’s eyes grew as big as plates when he met Saruhiko’s gaze, with a weird dash of gleefulness that spread to his mouth in a huge grin.

He yelled something that sounded a lot like Saruhiko’s name – wait, what? –, before throwing himself against Saruhiko’s waist in a very childish embrace.

Saruhiko managed to make a sound between a strangled cat and an outraged bird.

“What are you doing here??” The little boy bounced back to look at him, all smiles and white canines. “Why you don’t visit us anymore?? You should come by with Misaki more times! Mom misses you too!”

What-

Oh.

_Oh._

Why.

“You know blue office man?” The girl asked to her brother, apparently having developed a nickname for Saruhiko on the short amount of time they spent together.

“Yeah! It’s Saru, don’t you remember, Megumi? Well, you were too little, I guess.”

“Wha? Misaki’s Saru??” The girl’s jaw dropped open as she stared at Saruhiko with sudden recognition. He considered flattening himself against the ground and dying a little. “No waaaay! Mom always talk about you!”

“Right?? She’s always asking Misaki to bring you over for holidays and stuff and he’s all ‘mhmmm’ about it!” The boy was now clinging to his arm possessively. “I thought you moved abroad or something!”

“He’s a blue office man now, maybe he’s rich and can’t hang out with us”, Megumi theorized.

“Why not? That’s stupid!” The boy frowned at his sister, but she simply shrugged. “You’ll come over, right?”

“He’ll come over” Megumi stated, apparently taking his power of decision away from him.

Saruhiko cleared his throat, trying to keep his bubbling annoyance and confusion at bay.

“Im- busy. I have work to do. The only reason I was with your sister-“

“He was protecting me from the bad people, Minoru.” Megumi told her brother with a proud face. She turned to Saruhiko. “I mean, there were no bad people, and I could probably punch them if they showed up, but you’re nice.”

“Still-“ He tried once again to make his statement, only to have Minoru interrupt him this time:

“What?? No way! That’s so cool! So, you’re like, the police??”

“No, b-“

“Why isn’t Misaki a police person too?” Megumi questioned the air. “He should be.”

“I think you need to be smart. To be a policeman, I mean.” Minoru answered as he grasped Saruhiko’s arm again. He couldn’t believe he was being physically restrained by what was probably a 13 year old kid.

“What, are you calling our brother dumb??” Megumi opened her mouth in shock. 

“No, no! But I think you need to be, like, _super_ smart. The smartest. Like Saru.” Minoru looked at him expectantly, and Saruhiko groaned.

“…I have work to do. I’m sure you two can go back on your own.”

“I can’t, I need an adult.” Megumi put her hand on her forehead and pretended to faint a little, and her exaggerated expression was so similar to Misaki’s that it made Saruhiko want to smash his face against the nearest wall in horror.  Minoru jumped in to help his sister on her mission to drag Saruhiko to somewhere he didn’t want to go:

“You should, like, super come with us! We’re having cake!” He raised his plastic bag closer to Saruhiko’s face like an offering. “Misaki would be super happy! You could be a part of the surprise! It would be even better!”

“Misaki would be super happy” Megumi nodded, repeating Minoru’s words.

_No he wouldn’t, and I wouldn’t either, and we’d probably want to kick each other in the face and scream a lot_ , Saruhiko thought to himself as his mind spiralled through a blur of chaos and discomfort. 

“I can’t. I have work.”

“But you _need_ to!” Minoru pleaded.

“Misaki will be there” Megumi added, as if it was an irresistible offer.

“No.”

“Please!”

“No.”

“Pleeeease!”

“I said no.”

“But, but, Saru!”

“Oh for the _love_ of-“

He stopped himself when he noticed he had unconsciously pushed Minoru away from his arm and raised his voice to the point of turning the heads of a few curious pedestrians. Megumi’s expression was a mix of surprise and fear, as if she expected him to yell at her, and her brother had hesitant fingers reaching out to Saruhiko’s sleeve timidly.

He sighed. And then he sighed again, fishing out his PDA from his pocket with quick fingers.

At least the thought of Misaki trying to land a punch on his face was somewhat comforting.

“Lieutenant?” He called when he recognized Awashima’s voice on the line. “It’s me. I, um, found some kids. Alone. I’m taking them back to their house. No, I’m not making this up, why would I even- what? _No._ Ugh. Anyway, I’m just calling to let you know I’ll be gone for a while. A _very short_ while. Yes, I know I could drop them at the police station, but-” Saruhiko glared at the two kids. “-they’re _very vocal_ about my company.” He clicked his tongue. “I told you already, I’m not making this up. Yes, yes, I’ll write a report later. Yes. Yes. Please don’t. Yes. Thank you.” He hung up before Awashima could once again mention the possibility of him making up imaginary kids to slack off during work hours.

“Were you talking to the Police Master?” Megumi asked curiously at the same time her brother yelled, “You’re coming!”

“…I’m taking you home. And _that’s it_. Stop smiling.”

 

-

 

He’d have to think of something for his bloody report later. Saruhiko wasn’t sure Awashima would believe him if he tried to tell her he was coerced by a pair of kids into dragging himself along them to their house.

He waited patiently as Megumi took charge of the important task of ringing the doorbell, his left arm already numb in the firm grasp of Minoru, holding it like it was his firstborn. 

_Misaki better not be the one opening this damn door_ , he thought with a flicker of annoyance on his fingers. If it was his mom, he could just fake a nice smile, say some pretty words and be on his way. Sure, meeting with Misaki was always the highlight of Saruhiko’s boring days, but he needed to present himself accordingly and prepare his-

A loud gasp came from the doorway. A very white Misaki stared at the harmonious figure of Saruhiko surrounded by the two smaller Yata siblings, one of them trying to hide under his coat while giggling, the other squeezing his arm more than ever, and a plastic bag full of cake dangling from his other arm.

Well _shitfuckno_.

He could say something smart. He _should_ say something smart. Something along the lines of _I found these gremlins, I believe they belong to you?,_ or maybe _I totally wasn’t dragged here by your mother’s spawn, I came on my very own free will to see your terrified face, thank you goodbye._

“Uh”, Saruhiko said instead. 

_I could be dead_ , he mused, focusing his gaze on admiring his own fingernails as If there weren’t two children dangling off him. _I could be dead and this could not be happening, and everyone would be happier. I would._

 “…-and I brought Misaki’s Saru with me.” Megumi was announcing proudly when Saruhiko caught up to her voice.

“Don’t say it like you did it by yourself, I was there too.” Minoru clung tighter to his arm, and he had to resist the urge to free himself and lie down on the corridor.

“Yesyesyes” She shooed her brother with a wave of her arms, and, surprisingly, Minoru only shrank and tried to hide behind Saruhiko’s arm.

Silence followed for almost twenty seconds filled with Misaki staring at them like he was seeing a small yet angry dinosaur attempting to enter his mother’s house. 

Surprisingly, Misaki exploded with what sounded like genuine laughter, mixed with perhaps 30% of forced, desperate laughter.

“Oh, you guys! And here I was worrying you’d get lost or something and how mom would have my hide if she got back and you guys were still outside!” His smile twitched with a touch of horror. “And you even dragged _poor little Saru_ all the way here!” _What the fuck you’re doing at my house_ , his eyes screamed quietly.

“I was _very much not dragged_ ”, Saruhiko retorted almost immediately, his voice as calm as ever _. I can go wherever I want, stop judging me, you tiny person_ , he tried to reply mutely with a quiet glare, but his message might have gotten mixed with _Your shirt is going inside your stupid pants and it’s distracting me, fix it please so I can avert my eyes_ as he found himself annoyingly distracted by the way the cloth was folding around Misaki’s waist.

“He spoke to the Police Master and they let him come here”, Megumi informed cheerfully, unaware of the silent conversation between her brother and the visitor she brought in.

“Huh. Sure.” The smile trembled on Misaki’s face as if he was about to lose it, but when his gazer shifted to Minoru quietly clinging to Saruhiko’s arm, something inside him seemed to soften. “I bet you two are hungry. I’ll make dinner tonight since I’m freeloading here, so come in already.”

Megumi stepped in obediently, disappearing in the hallway, but her brother didn’t move from his spot next to Saruhiko.

“Minoru?” Misaki frowned. “My cooking is not _that_ horrible, I can make some meat for you. Don’t be so picky.” He was purposely avoiding looking at Saruhiko and staring intently at his little brother. Good.

“Saru will come in too, right?” Minoru turned his head to look at Saruhiko. “You will, right? You promised.”

“Wha- I never-“ The rush of indignation made Saruhiko eat his own words, and he sighed with annoyance. “I have to go to work. I told you I’d just take you home, didn’t I.”

“But it’s gonna be much more fun if you’re with us! Right, Misaki?” He turned his pleading gaze to his older brother.

The noise Misaki made resembled the sound of wild frogs from Saruhiko’s old biology tapes, and a hint of laughter made his mouth tremble.

“I. Uh. I’m.” Misaki swallowed a lot of air, and a faint blush rose to his cheeks at the same time he furrowed his brows in annoyance. Saruhiko would give his numb arm just for the chance of teasing him out loud. “Well! If he’s busy, who cares?! Let him go back to his work or something. I can see him whenever I want anyway. No need to force him to come in. I’m sure he’s busy and has a lot to do, right, Saru?” _I’m saving you and myself both from a very awkward dinner and you should thank me with flowers and eternal servitude_ , Misaki’s gaze seemed to say.

From somewhere inside the small house, Megumi’s loud voice came in a rush, a herald of chaos and destruction in her own rights:

“He wants you to come in and eat his food! He’s just being shy!”

“Wha- You be quiet!” Misaki yelled back at the corridor, voice seeping with indignation as his blush became several shades darker. 

“Hoh.” Saruhiko raised his eyebrows.

“You can go now. Yes. You can. Yes. Thanks for, uh, bringing them here or whatever.” Misaki made an attempt to remove his brother from Saruhiko’s arm, but not before a familiar teasing voice attacked again:

 

“ _Shyyyyyy!_ You’re shy! All he ever talks about is yoou, Saru!”

Megumi’s voice was now drenched in the usual innocent malice that was very common to most children, and forced enough for Saruhiko to know she was making things up. 

But he would sooner let Reishi arrange his hair in pigtails than miss a chance to tease Misaki.

“Oh?~” He feigned surprise. “I wasn’t aware.”

“You- _STOP_ \- that!” Misaki yelled back, half at the corridor behind him, half at Saruhiko. It wasn’t possible to tell anymore if his face was flushed due to anger or shyness.

“Loverboy! Loverboooooy!” She yelled back, trailing off with a laughter.

Misaki looked like he was about to get rid of his human form and evolve into a red mass of screaming.

“You don’t even know what that word _means!_ ” He turned back to Saruhiko with a wild look on his eyes. “And _you_ \- go back to the Blues or something! Whatever! I don’t care! Thanks anyway! Go on!”

At last, Misaki was the most embarrassed one out of the two of them. _That_ , Saruhiko knew how to handle.

“Now you’re just being _rude_ , Misaki.” He smiled contentedly. “I came all the way here, you might as well let me in.”

He watched with amusement as Misaki’s mouth took a shape of an ‘o’ in horror. 

Minoru finally released his long-dead arm, bouncing to look him in the eye.

“You’ll stay?? Nice! That’s so nice!” He took it upon himself to grab Saruhiko’s hand and drag him in the general direction of Misaki, frozen in the entrance.

As they passed by him, Misaki’s glare suggested he was considering cooking one of his limbs for dinner.

 

-

 

Dinner with Misaki was very much what Saruhiko remembered it was, with the addition of noisy children and several furtive glares from Misaki in his general direction, as if he expected Saruhiko to vanish through the ceiling at every moment. 

Despite being in the perfect position to tease Misaki until exhaustion, Saruhiko had to refrain from voicing most of his sarcastic remarks, mostly for the sake of the younger Yata siblings, still blissfully unaware of the rivalry between the two of them. Well, Misaki sure could be dumb at times, but it was a nice move not to involve his siblings in their whole ordeal.

_Or maybe he just never cared enough about you to tell his family_ , Niki’s evil voice suggested in his head. Well.

“More, I see!” His gloomy trail of thoughts were interrupted by Misaki’s loud voice, taking away the empty plate in front of Saruhiko to replenish it with more of his fried rice. Apparently, he decided to retaliate to Saruhiko’s presence in his mother’s house by shoving fried rice down his throat until he could barely move, and, given how Saruhiko was hardly in a position to refuse, with the two children compelling him to eat more and telling exaggerated stories of how angry their mother would be when she returned from work and saw they still had leftovers from dinner.

Misaki smirked proudly at him when he begrudgingly started to carve his way through his seventh plate of fried rice.

“I see you still like it.”

“Shut up.” He felt like he could throw up if he spoke too fast.

“Serves you right”, Misaki retorted, the smirk never leaving his face as he patted his old friend on the shoulder and made his way back to the kitchen. Saruhiko was regretting all his decisions from the last two hours, and felt compelled to crawl behind Misaki to the kitchen just to escape from Megumi’s cheery, loud voice and Minoru’s nearly obsessed stare fixated on him.

“Bring in the cake!” Megumi hissed furtively at some point to her brother, who promptly jumped to his feet to retrieve the abandoned plastic bag from the hallway. 

Saruhiko wanted to inquire what on Earth they were planning exactly, but couldn’t find it in him to speak through a mouthful of pineapple and fried rice. He watched in uninterested confusion as the kids unwrapped a cake decorated with slightly-smudged icing (certainly a side-effect from being waved around by Minoru and abandoned in a hallway).

“Turn off the lights!” She commanded again, and her older brother acquiesced, quietly turning off all the lights and the television in a rush. A warm, solitary glow came from the kitchen where Misaki was holed up in, and Saruhiko barely had time to thank all the deities around the world as Minoru furtively slipped his angrily half-eaten plate of fried rice under the table with a quick “Sorry!”

He still had no idea what was going on, though. The cake was sitting alone in the table.

Could it be that…

Saruhiko checked his PDA. _July 19, 8:42 PM._

No.

Then what exactly-

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” Came the loud shouting as a confused Misaki stepped into the dark living room. 

Um.

“What”, both Misaki and Saruhiko uttered in confusion as a happy Minoru ran around turning on the lights. Megumi was holding a small candle.

“I wanted to light it myself, but Minoru said mom would be angry because I could hurt myself. You light it!” She presented the candle happily to her older brother.

Misaki blinked. His eyes went from the cake, to the candle, back to the cake, and to a rapid confused exchange of glances with Saruhiko.

“Uh. Are you guys doing it for my birthday?”

_Not me, don’t include me on this rollercoaster of failure,_ pleaded Saruhiko mentally.

“Yes!” Megumi answered cheerily. “It’s today, isn’t it? July 19th.”

“July 20th”, corrected Saruhiko at the same time as Misaki before being taken by a sudden urge to run around and imitate Minoru’s act of switching the lights off so he wouldn’t have to see Misaki’s surprised expression at his quick knowledge of his long lost best friend’s birthday. He remained sitting and slightly frustrated at himself.

“What? No way!” Megumi ignored the way her older brother was staring at Saruhiko in favor of her own disbelief. “Minoru, you said it was today!”

“I thought it was today!”

“You did it wrong! You ruined everything!” Tears began to form at the corners of the little girl’s big eyes. “Now our surprise is ruined!”

“I-it’s not my fault! I was sure..! …Sorry!” It was Minoru’s turn to blush, his face contorting a little as if he was about to cry himself.

“You messed it up!”

“I didn’t want to!”

“It’s your fault!” She was sobbing and pointing at him now. “I _knew_ I should’ve just asked dad!”

“Stop yelling at me! I-I-“

“You messed it up!”

Suddenly, they were trapped into a very small Hell of crying children, yelling and pointless accusations. As Saruhiko stared ahead and pondered what exactly he was supposed to do besides feeling uncomfortable and throwing desperate glances for help at Misaki, the oldest Yata sibling rose to his feet and put himself between his two sobbing siblings.

“Okay, okay, enough, enough you two!” He used a hand to gently hold Megumi in place and prevent her from running away from the room. “You don’t need to be so upset about this! I’m super happy you guys did something like this for me-“

“He ruined it!” Megumi cried while pointing at her ashamed brother and sobbing.

“I-“

“No one ruined anything!” Misaki’s voice became a bit louder. “So what if my birthday is tomorrow? It’s almost tomorrow anyway. And I get to eat cake earlier, which is even cooler.”

He quickly turned to Saruhiko with pleading eyes, and, well, he wasn’t getting involved in that stupid family drama-

…

Saruhiko learned a new thing that day – he was weak to those pleading eyes.

What a terrible day it was.

“…I don’t see what this is about. There is, in fact, some sort of thing to celebrate today, I suppose.”

“Wha-what? What is it?” Minoru looked at him with big teary eyes. 

So much caos for a cake at the wrong day.

_I’m a great liar and everyone should love me for this_ , he thought to himself. Oh well.

“You see”, he said slowly, eyes shifting to Misaki, “The day Misaki and I met was July 19th, a few years ago.”

It wasn’t true, but he sure as hell had no idea what bloody day they first met, and if _he_ didn’t know what bit of information, he was fairly convinced no one else in the world did either.

Misaki’s eyes grew slightly bigger as he noticed what Saruhiko was doing, and rapidly shook his head in concordance.

“Exactly! I remember it now! July 19th, yes.”

“And we would even eat cake to celebrate, too.” Saruhiko had to bit his lip in order not to cackle.

“Yeah! Sure. Yeah.” Misaki nodded in desperation.

“We always _did_ celebrate, every year.” Saruhiko added.

“Yeah.”

“Such a great, unforgettable day.”

“Yeah.”

“Every. Year.”

“Yeaah.”

“One time Misaki even got drunk and tried to run around naked.”

“Ye- hey! HEY! That’s not- I don’t even drink!” His head snapped back to Saruhiko in anger.

“Stop denying the past.”

“ _Stop invading my house!_ ”

“It’s not your house, it’s your mom’s. And you’re the one who tried to kill me with fried rice.”

“I was feeding your ungrateful mouth, bastard!”

Misaki gasped, most likely horrified at himself for using bad words in front of his younger siblings, but when he turned around to apologize, both kids were shaking with laughter at them, long-forgotten tears resting on their lashes.

The annoyance on Misaki’s face gave way to surprise, and then a smile.

He always started smiling with his eyes.

Saruhiko averted his gaze.

“Good, good.” Misaki approached his siblings again. “Now apologize to each other.”

Megumi and Minoru’s smiles froze on their faces, and they turned away from each other.

“Hey-!” Misaki attempted to intervene, but was cut off by Megumi:

“You’re not mom! You can’t make us.”

He huffed, but scratched his head in resignation.

“Okay. Just promise to stop fighting for such small things.”

Megumi made a funny noise through her nose, and threw herself at Misaki, muffling her laughter against his chest. 

Minoru glanced shyly at Saruhiko.

Oh, no, no. He was _not_ available for child-hugging.

He felt a warm sensation on his neck, and turned around to see Misaki staring intently at Saruhiko.

“ _Hug him”,_ he whispered through Megumi’s hair. 

The audacity! Saruhiko scoffed.

“ _You_ hug him”, he whispered back angrily, careful to keep his voice away from Minoru.

“But he always liked you a lot”, came the whispered response.

“This is ridiculous, stop whispering”, he inevitably murmured back.

“Just go and hug him!”

“Like hell-“

He was interrupted by Minoru settling himself between his arms on a very one-sided hug.

_Burn this household down,_ Saruhiko thought. He reluctantly opened his arms to the small boy and decidedly avoided Misaki’s growing grin.

“Us too! Us too!” Megumi chirped as she dragged Misaki with her to the awkward hugging pile, tackling Minoru from behind and making him laugh loudly.

Saruhiko sat unmoving and tried to avoid the children nestling on him with an awkward Misaki behind them, seemingly not sure of what he was doing there.

His eyes met Saruhiko’s briefly, a ghost of a smile trembling on his lips.

Homra’s vanguard avoided his gaze quickly as he jumped to his feet.

“Alright, who wants to play cards? That cake’s not gonna eat itself!”

He _always_ started smiling with his eyes.

-

Saruhiko woke up slowly to a weight on his stomach, a light headache, complete darkness and no memory of ever falling asleep.

Also, there was hair on his mouth.

He removed any unwanted hair from his face before squeezing his eyes and trying to look around. A quick touch to his face made him aware that he still had his glasses on, thankfully. A second touch to the left informed him that the hair from before belonged to Minoru, sleeping soundly on the floor next to him. A smaller dark lump next to him was most likely Megumi, but it was hard to tell with no light whatsoever.

…And the weight on his stomach was nothing less than Misaki’s head, resting on his belly as if it was its rightful place on the universe.

Typical.

He fished his PDA out of his pocket with wobbly fingers, his eyes already used to the sudden rectangle of brightness in the dark room, informing him he had missed a couple dozen calls from Awashima and several unhappy e-mails as well.

Oh.

_Shit_ , he reflected.

“Shit”, he also mumbled, feeling the need to vocalize that particular feeling to the universe.

The weight on his stomach shifted and turned, as if his cursing summoned Misaki back from his slumber.

Sleepy eyes stared at him lazily. He just stared back.

“What.”

“What.”

Always a smart conversation with Misaki.

The smaller boy slowly fumbled his way out of his sheets – someone took their time to cover Misaki and the lower part of Saruhiko’s sleeping body with soft white sheets. Misaki’s mother, most likely, when she got back home.

“I feel like crap”, Misaki whispered to no one in particular.

“You look like it”, Saruhiko added helpfully.

“Oh, geez, you.” But a faint laughter came from him anyway.

Saruhiko wondered if he was cold as the boy huddled himself up. He didn’t ask.

“I ate too much”, Misaki continued weakly.

“Not surprising”, Saruhiko snorted. Misaki snorted back.

They went back to silence. There wasn’t much to say, and it was weirdly comfortable like this. It felt like they would erupt into the usual fighting if they kept talking, and, for once, Saruhiko was too sleepy for that. He imagined that, again, for once, just this once, Misaki would agree with him.

They said nothing.

“I’m taking them to bed” Misaki announced in a small voice after what seemed like years. He got up on wobbly feet, and, with the mastery of someone that had done it countless times before, grabbed both siblings, each on one arm, softly enough not to wake them but sufficiently firm so that they wouldn’t slip through his arms.

Saruhiko watched quietly as the other was engulfed in darkness in the distant corridor, thinking about how wrinkled his uniform probably was and how troublesome it would be to fix it up. 

Misaki’s old watch was lying next to his discarded covers. Saruhiko averted his gaze.

A shared room, a bright computer screen, shared meals of fried rice- he didn’t really need to remember any of that.

There wasn’t really anything to remember. Not when he never forgot it in the first place.

He grabbed his PDA again. Blue, blue, blue.

_July 20th, 12:02 AM._

The watch was staring back at him. Almost.

The suggestion of an idea popped up on Saruhiko’s mind.

-

“Thanks”, came a mumble from the dark.

Saruhiko didn’t answer.

“Oi, damn it, don’t ignore me when I’m saying words to you.”

“What now?” Saruhiko sighed.

“You fixed up my watch, didn’t you? My PDA.”

“What? Was it broken?”

“Not broken. Just a little shabby. You know, you fixed it just now.”

“Did not.”

“You did! You grabbed it when I was putting Minoru and Megumi to sleep and tossed back to me just now, thinking I was already asleep.”

“That’s a nice dream you had.”

“Damn it, Saru, at least accept it when I’m trying to fucking thank you, will you?”

No answer came, and they became quiet again. Saruhiko was too tired to argue that he didn’t want or even needed any display of gratitude. 

He was cold. Misaki had stolen the sheets for himself. 

Saruhiko sighed.

“You should take better care of it.”

“What?”

“Your PDA.”

“Ha! So you _fixed_ it.”

“Oh, no, he knows.” Saruhiko feigned surprise. “But, honestly. All your apps were outdated and you had a bunch of corrupted files. You need to clean up your data once in a while. At least every week or so.”

“I don’t know how.”

“It’s easy, grandma.”

“Shut up, it’s your fault.” Misaki sounded sulky. “You… you used to clean it up for me. Heck, you _made_ this damn thing from scratch, after all. Then you left. I tried doing it on my own, but I didn’t want to mess it up.”

“Tch, Misaki. You could always buy a new PDA.”

“I like this one.”

_Don’t say it like that._

Something hurt inside Saruhiko. He ignored it.

Something was always hurting anyway.

“Well, don’t get used to it.” He was glad his voice didn’t tremble at all. “It’s your birthday present this time.”

There was a smile to Misaki’s voice when he spoke again.

“I know. Thanks.”

_Don’t._

“Sappy.” Saruhiko groaned as he huddled closer to Misaki.

“What?! Says the guy who’s cuddling me out of the blue! Wait, why are you cuddling me?”

“I’m not cuddling. I’m cold and you stole the sheets for yourself.”

“Well they’re _mine_.”

“They’re your mom’s. You don’t live here.”

“Neither do you!”

“And that’s why we share, Misaki.”

Misaki grunted, but didn’t move away.

They remained silence for a few minutes. Something shifted next to Saruhiko, and Misaki’s voice came muffled:

“Saruhiko. Saruhiko, are you awake?”

“No.”

Something small punched him lightly on the shoulder. 

“Should I pretend I’m injured and sad?” 

“Oh, shut up. It’s just, well, my mom wanted me to ask if you’re staying tomorrow too. She’s super pumped to have you around again.”

He wanted to come up with a smart answer for that, but his brain was too tired, so he remained silent. He could feel Misaki’s gaze on him for a few seconds, until he gave up with a scowl and returned to his position.

Saruhiko opened a single eye.

“Maybe.” 

“What?!” Misaki raised his head.

“I said maybe. You’re barely in your twenties and you already have a hearing problem.”

But Misaki didn’t seem to listen. He was staring at his own intertwined fingers, seemingly lost in touch.

“That’s nice”, He said quietly. Then frowned. “For Minoru, I mean. He likes to have you around. And mom, too. They like you.”

“Yes. They like me.”

“Yeah.”

“Just them, though.”

“Just them.” Almost in slow motion, Misaki frowned again. “…Wait, what you’re trying to imply?!”

“I am asleep.”

“Saruhiko!”

“Sleeeeeeping.”

Another soft punch landed on his shoulder.

Two boys laughed in the dark.

Surprisingly, it hurt a little less when they were together.

**Author's Note:**

> I AM BACK FROM THE VOID I WROTE A THING and it’s!!!!! sarumi!!!!! <3 I honestly love these two to death. Three years later and here I am, back with more tooth-rotting fluff. Btw, I wrote this for Yata’s birthday after someone sent me a prompt for it but oOPS WE’RE ALREADY 12 MINUTES INTO JULY 21TH HERE WHERE I LIVE let’s not talk about it just hold my hand and whisper these two shits will hug and make up on season 2 pls i only ask for that b ye


End file.
